Updated

• What are employment tribunals governed by?

  Employment Tribunals Act 1996 and 2013 Tribunal Rules
• What do employment tribunals do?

  Deal with disputes between employees and employers
• What is an employment tribunal specialised in?

  Employement disputes
• Where may an employment tribunal appeal go?

  Starts at an employement tribunal, may move up to an employment appeal tribunal, then may move up again to the high court, court of appeal or the UKSC
• Where do employment tribunals run?

  Run alongside the UK Civil court system.
• What makes up an employement tribunal?

  3 Members-

  Legally qualified chair- judge

  Representative of Employees

  Representative of employers
• what do the 2 representatives do?

  Provide the judge with ideas about the business world, and trade unions.
• Employees may go straight to a tribunal to deal with their disputes
• Where may employees get help from?

  Their trade union.
• What is a trade union?

  A trade union is an organisation where its membership is made up of members from the same workplace (primarily workers)
• what can a trade union do?

  Aims to provide support, to protect and advise the interests of its members in the workplace
• why would you get help from a trade union?

  Because there is no legal aid for employment tribunals
• What are people encouraged to do in employment tribunal?

  Represent themselves
• what does an employement tribunal act as?

  An independent, impartial and unbiased tribunal that aims to make a fair decision based on the evidence they are provided.
• what is conciliation? 


  It is a voluntary process where a professional facillitator assists in resolving employer and employee disputes when their own efforts haven’t worked
• what is ACAS? 


  A government body who helps with early conciliation before a tribunal claim is made
• What does ACAS aim to do?

  try and help resolve dispute with early conciliation, before a tribunal claim is made in order to save money and reduce court backlog.
• what is the basic grounds for a tribunal claim?

  When an employer treats an employee unlawfully.
• What are some examples of grounds for a tribunal claim?

  • Unfair dismissal
  • discrimination
  • unfair deductions of pay
  • redundancy
  • breach of contract
• What are some grounds for appeal?

  • The tribunal incorrectly applied the law
  • tribunal used the wrong law
  • the correct procedures weren’t used
  • biased opinions
• What are common outcomes of a tribunal?

  • Compensation, satisfactory reference, reinstate job, reinstate in different job.
• What type of process is an employment tribunal?

  formal process
• why is an employment tribunal a formal process?

  Each party is encouraged to represent themselves, bringing their own case and witnesses.
• What is the outcome of an employment tribunal?

  Outcome is binding meaning that it legally has to be followed, or legal action may be taken (the courts can enforce it onto the person)
• What are the advantages of an employment tribunal?

  • Cheaper than court
  • applicants encouraged to represent themselves
  • quicker than court
  • less formal
  • experts sat with the judge
  • frees court time for other more important cases
• Cheaper than court… 


  Advantage because it is more accessible to people and therefore can be used to settle disputes. It is cheaper because there a no/or lower costs of court and lower penalties.
• Applicants are encouraged to represent themselves…

  This is an advantage because it makes the process seem much less scary and less intimidating than court. It also allows people to put their personal experience across to the judge.
• Quicker than court… 


  This is an advantage because most employement tribunal cases are heard within a day, meaning that the dispute is dealt with quickly and efficiently, wasting no time or money for either party
• Less formal than court… 


  this is an advantage because it encourages people to represent themselves and therefore saves them money as they don’t necessarily have to hire a lawyer. It is also an advantage as the judges are helpful because they give advice to the parties to help them solve the dispute
• Experts are sat with the judge…

  This is an advantage because the judge is well informed on the ideas and experience of each party and is able to give a fair outcome
• Frees time for other court cases…

  This is an advantage because it saves the courts money and saves the parties Money of court. it also allows the backlogs of courts to be reduced
• what are the disadvantages of employment tribunals?

  • No legal aid
  • less formal but still complex
  • time delay
• No legal aid… 


  This is a disadvantage because it may cause an imbalance of power because the employee is less likely to be able to afford the cost of a good lawyer in comparison to a large employer, this means that the outcome may be unfair as the cases are represented differently- lawyer vs self representation
• Less formal but still complex…

  This is a disadvantage because an employment tribunal is much less formal than court however it is still a complex ordeal for a member of the general public and therefore is intimidating and scary making it off putting for them
• Time delay… 


  This is a disadvantage because employement tribunals are quicker than court but there is often a long wait before the case actually goes to tribunal